The incredibly pointless self isolation trials of late 2021
To try and find ways to get around restrictive MIQ requirements - business travellers convinced the government to try a self-isolation trial
I wrote about the MIQ experience a couple of weeks ago which was a gentle precursor for this next slice of Covid history.
As mid-2021 passed, and the vaccination rollout ramped up to the general population, public calls for what next and an end to the hermit kingdom were increasing.
A 30th of July 2021 memo on proof of vaccination in the context of travel to then Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins - noted the the effect of vaccines on transmission was still under review, “…evidence on the magnitude of the reduction in transmissibility is still emerging.”
It went on to state, “…once vaccinated, approximately <0.5% of Pfizer vaccinated individuals become infected (‘breakthrough’ infections). While it is possible for these individuals to infect others, the rate at which a vaccinated infected person can transmit the virus is unknown.”
Instead of a laughing emoji (0.5%!) - Hipkins noted on signing the memo this vaccination work was critical to the Reconnecting New Zealand strategy.
Cue the slow, drawn out Reconnecting New Zealand strategy, based on vaccination and strict Covid suppression rather than complete elimination. A rapidly waning vaccine in my mind would have meant a quick re-opening to take advantage of it before it waned, but no, no.
The strategy’s documents state high vaccination rates would mean any outbreaks would be managed through contact tracing, and lockdowns would be localised (for instance at schools or workplaces). It was…an exercise in control with bizarre statements like only allowing certain types of travellers (which they did do - Australians with their, I can only assume, preferred anti-Covid biology were allowed in before anyone else), and alongside suppression and contact tracing - isolation after travel would also be continuing indefinitely.
Research was done to gauge public sentiment for these changes, and the Covid fear had really done a number on people. A full 16% of people were complete nut jobs (or just people in Wellington, who can say…) who never, ever, wanted the borders opened:
Imagine being a politician, who’s presided over the most restrictive policies in anyone’s life, and it all had to have a point.
It had to have a way out and still be a success. Well the success and the ability to take part in the world and life was predicated here on vaccination. Vaccination was a huge deal in every Western country - but New Zealand was 1 of the few who had such closed borders and the ability to tightly control both Covid and the narrative on Covid.
Opening up would also have been a huge opening up to criticism if they didn’t get it right.
With that as the backdrop, as part of the reconnecting work - then Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern announced the self-isolation trial at the end of September 2021 saying, “While this is a pilot, it gives you a sense of where we intend to go on our borders, with a wider range of options for safe return to help ease pressure on our MIQ system in the future.“
This self-isolation trial fufilled the need for control (a cautious trial!) while being seen to be trying to do something (responding to political criticism!) all without any plan to actually implement it.
The pressure for self-isolation trials
Animation Research founder Sir Ian Taylor first cropped up to me as a proponent of what became the CovidCard wearable trial failure. Sir Ian as he liked to be known, had been raising the issue of many other countries opening up far sooner than New Zealand, regardless of any vaccination targets. Rather than argue the point he instead advocated for his own trial that could be used by primarily business travellers or sports teams “…at no cost to Government…”.
I find it troubling that business was the primary purpose of this trial. No other types of travellers were mentioned in the documents I went through, such as people returning to give birth, or be with loved ones who were ill or dying, or simply people who had the legal right, or personal connection, to the country.
The rationale for this, again from the Prime Minster was, “The reason we are focused on work-related travel is because of the extra layer of protection that having an employer with some skin in the game provides.” Excuse me? Skin in the game? Words fail me.
During 2021 the Chief Ombudsman launched an investigation on the MIQ allocation process due to being flooded with complaints - finding in mid-December 2021 that MBIE had acted unreasonably over the system as it did not take people’s personal situations into account. Even before they announced the business focused self-isolation trial, MIQ allocation was an on-going pressure - yet only business travellers were considered for the trial.
MBIE self isolation trial
The trial was set up for 150 people and administered through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) who were responsible for the MIQ system. Costs of self-isolation were to be borne by the person or employer and they were also required to pay MBIE $1,000 for the privilege of being involved. To be considered you had to submit an expression of interest.
Some stats: although the trial could take 150 people, only 79 people went through the pilot between the 30th of October to the 18th of December 2021. The number included Climate Change Minister James Shaw. 48 people took part in Auckland and 31 in Christchurch.
The majority (80%) of participants were male and 65% were aged 45 and over. Among those who responded to the MBIE participant survey (51 people) 63% were New Zealand European, 6% Maori, with other ethnic groups making up 16% of participants. I find these stats ironic as again and again, despite an alleged focus on equity - much of the government’s Covid response was skewed on a class level - the laptop class.
Designed to mimic MIQ, participants had regular checks and tests, alongside of course not being near anyone. Border controls changed during the trial, so at the start some people had to do 14 days self-isolation and at the end they had to do 10 days.
If you were accepted to take part, you had to sign and agree to lengthy compliance requirements. The MBIE standard operating procedure shows these were compliance requirements and checks that a contracted security firm would perform on people.
So if you expected the word health there - no, the word is security. Ok?
This included, after an initial welcome call, using a product called Zyte which the company First Security used to “…conduct an identity check using a video call against an image supplied by the participant through the selection process.” They then took a snapshot of the person as evidence to show the identity check has been completed. Then - yes then - they’d also geo-locate your phone to confirm you were in the allowed place. Any issues could be referred to the police. This was all happening after you’d arrived and had been securely taken to your residence.
Actually, I did find some information on the health protocols for the trial - which included giving ESR (a Crown agency that does science and research services) trial participant’s addresses for waste water testing!
Participants had 3 PCR tests and 2 saliva tests in total during their isolation, had their GPs informed by the government they were in the trial and had to put QR posters up outside their entry ways. They also got daily health checks - and you naughty people - if you didn’t answer the phone on the 3rd attempt within 45 minutes - it will be ‘escalated’ and you will be followed up on.
This is so bat sh*t crazy I’m amazed people willingly complied. I feel the need to say - less than 6 months after the pilot ended - New Zealand hit 1 million reported positive cases.
The final report from the pilot wasn’t released until 2022. “The key themes in the participant feedback were that the number of tests, the length of the required self-isolation was perceived as excessive, and that the challenges became harder after the first few days, including being bored and lonely and separated from loved ones.”
The many phones calls had different receptions by people, “….with some welcoming the daily interactions with the monitoring staff and others finding the phone calls intrusive.” Bizarrely some people actually wanted GPS tracking as a way to cut down the interactions.
They also looked into testing on arrival which airports said, “… undertaking COVID-19 testing at the border at scale is not operationally viable because of space constraints to safely accommodate large numbers of people being tested on-site, and the risks and costs of delays to passenger disembarkation if arrival halls are not cleared quickly.”
Sir Ian Taylor and his 151 off the bench trial
Like the government in their tightly controlled Reconnecting New Zealand strategy - Sir Ian also seemed to think tightly controlling Covid would naturally continue indefinitely.
Alternatives to MIQ had been called for previously and been generally ignored. But Sir Ian’s proposal for what he called his 151 off the bench trial (so named as he was the extra 1 from MBIE’s self isolation trial, get it?) conformed tightly to government narratives. Sir Ian, perhaps through his membership with the Cross Border Sector Group, was clearly able to lobby government and got approval to do his own trial alongside MBIE’s trial.
Sir Ian advocated for various private companies (a full 10 of them) to support monitoring someone at home - for instance he wore a company’s tracking bracelet which meant he received 3 calls during his trial rather than the 4 a day that could happen within an MIQ facility. He also used apps and wearables to monitor his health, merino face masks and saliva testing. He was trying to follow the protocols but also be innovative in doing so. But I’m not sure ‘transparency and collaboration’ was welcomed by government.
1 of the big 4 consulting firms Ernst & Young did a review of his trial in November 2021. The review was paid for by Sir Ian. A side note - I’m keeping count when any of the big 4 crop up in the New Zealand Covid response as they were also integral to the US response - we’ll see more references to the big 4 in contact tracing when I cover it.
Ernst & Young found overall the 151 trial matched MBIE’s requirements despite the fact pilot protocols changed during the trial which created complexity and confusion about requirements.
Outside of the official documents, the tone was decidedly differently. Sir Ian wasn’t far wrong in this comment, “…they'll want to run another trial even though we've run a trial and go and test somewhere else…” After the $1 million CovidCard trial ended in failure - they went and ran another 1!
But by the following January he had hung up on a Zoom call with Minister Ayesha Verrall out of frustration that nothing was being done.
Delaying the end of MIQ
Note the date of the trial? It occurred during the same time that a Ministry of Health public health assessment in November 2021 advised that MIQ was no longer justified as “…the risk posed by international arrivals transmitting Covid-19 is no longer higher than the domestic transmission risk of Covid-19.”
It must have been 1 of the 16% of people who never wanted borders re-opened that made an official complaint on the media reporting of that assessment - because it implied the government delayed ending MIQ - rather than through a “carefully managed transition” to safely shift to a new system. It hurts to write this but the complaint was upheld.
Back on the self-isolation trials - it wasn’t till January that MBIE proposed a workshop to explore issues that had been raised to the Minister with border settings, and to include a review of Sir Ian’s trial. The workshop was held in late January 2022, and in the report back to then Covid Minister Hipkins he noted they should continue to proceed for future contingency.
By the time the final report of MBIE’s self isolation trial was released - MIQ had done its dash. When February arrived it was clearly farcical - as Covid cases rose day on day in New Zealand - MIQ was protecting people from the waves of Covid outside, not the other way around.
MIQ continues
The “future contingency” that Hipkins scribbled on signing above?
A Cabinet decision in December 2021 allowed further work on a national quarantine system to take place through MBIE under the existing budget for MIQ until the end of June 2023.
MBIE currently has contracts with 7 MIQ facilities to provide 1250 rooms if required for MIQ. The contracts are due to expire at the end of June 2023 (with 4 rights of renewal for 1 year periods).
However the recent budget 2023/24 shows that funding for this work through vote building (MBIE) has ceased:
But has been transferred to under vote health:
There is no legislation to enact a requirement for isolation and quarantine (outside of existing provisions in the Health Act 1956), the way MIQ was implemented was deemed by the courts as unreasonable, and I doubt the social license to imprison people again exists. So exactly what is going on here with this work?